


A Series of Conversations

by Jean_C_Pepper



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-12-01
Updated: 2011-01-18
Packaged: 2017-10-13 11:42:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 4,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/136951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jean_C_Pepper/pseuds/Jean_C_Pepper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is my drabbles series based on the adventdrabbles prompts</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Conversation number 1

“Go ahead,” taunted the Joker. “ I know you want to ask.”  
“How much,” Bruce whispered. “ How much did they pay you for Rachel?'  
“There was a 10 million dollar bounty,” said the Joker. “ They didn't pay me per se, but I did collect it.”  
Bruce was silent for a long while.  
“Come on, Brucey. I am who I am. You know that.”  
“Yes,” answered Bruce. “ You are an amoral, insane killer and I've always known that.”  
'The fact that I love you when you killed my best friend is my cross to bear', Bruce added silently.  
Bruce got up and took the Joker's hand and led him under the mistletoe. Then, he bent down and kissed his lover.


	2. Conversation number 2

For the holiday season, Bruce ordered a huge 30 foot Christmas Candle to be lit in the plaza in front of Wayne Enterprises. The first night it was lit, he had a huge reception, open to the public. He also introduced an ice skating rink-free to all.  
Late that night, Bruce and the Joker were watching the candle from the balcony of his penthouse. It was quite cold, but they were wrapped in quilts and laying on a chaise, sharing body heat. There was a space heater on either side of the chaise, so they were quite cozy.  
“Don't you think the candle is,uh, a bit much, Brucey?” the Joker asked.  
“No, not really,” Bruce answered. “ I owe it to the people of Gotham.”  
“Is there anything you won't do for Gotham, Bats?”  
“Is there anything you won't do to Gotham, Joker?”

There was no answer for that one so they sat wrapped around each other in the chaise and watched the Candle.


	3. First Snow

The Joker woke up one night in Wayne Manor and looked out the window. It had started to snow during the night. Carefully, the Joker eased out of bed and grabbed the heavy purple terrycloth robe that Bruce had gotten for him and pulled it on. He eased open the door to the balcony and stood for a while, watching the flakes come down. He occasionally stuck his tongue out to catch a flake. Through the lights that Bruce had installed across the property, the Joker could see a hill in the distance. It looked perfect for sledding. All of the Joker's memories were fractured, but he could remember sledding as a child. Was he with parents, classmates, at school? He didn't know. All he could remember was the rush of the wind and the sense of joy he had.   
The door clicked and Bruce came out to join him, tying his own black robe as he did.  
“What are you doing out here?”   
“First snow,” the Joker answered, sticking out his tongue again.   
“You'll catch your death. Your not even wearing your slippers,” Bruce chided. “ Come back inside.”  
The Joker obeyed and Bruce closed the door behind him. As he did, he glimpsed the hill in the distance. He could remember sledding with his parents when he was a child. In his head, he could still hear Martha Wayne's squeals of laughter as they went down, followed by Thomas Wayne's deeper laugh. He could remember that they would sled all afternoon before heading back into the house for hot chocolate lovingly prepared by Mrs. Dawes.  
“Come here,” Bruce whispered, pulling the Joker close and kissing him, his hands wandering down to the tie of the clown's robe. He led the Joker back to bed and for a while they forgot everything else...  
Later, the Joker was lying against Bruce and they were both almost asleep. The Joker thought of the hill again.  
“Bruce?”  
“Hmm?”  
“Could we maybe go sledding one day? “  
Bruce smiled.   
“I was just thinking the same thing.”  
Bruce vowed to go and buy a sled tomorrow.


	4. Hidden Motives

Alfred was upset because the Joker had eaten all the Christmas cookies. Alfred had never really accepted Bruce and the Joker and the slightest thing the Joker did irritated him. Bruce knew that no one really cared about the shortbread Christmas cookies, it was just an excuse for Alfred to vent. He still couldn't see how Bruce could be with the Joker, even after all this time.   
Bruce went into his bedroom, where the Joker was laying on his bed waiting for him. The clown was still in his makeup, which Bruce curled his lip at. It would give them an excuse to bathe together.   
“Why did you eat all the cookies?”  
“I was hungry!”  
“Alfred is all upset,” Bruce stated.  
“Who cares?”   
“I see you're still wearing your makeup,” Bruce stated. “ Come on.”  
The Joker smirked as he followed Bruce into the bathroom. Of course, he still had his makeup on. He knew that Bruce would make him take it off anyway. They both still liked to fuck 'in costume' if how they had gone at it two nights ago in the Tumbler was any indication, but Bruce insisted that the Joker take off his makeup when in Bruce's home.  
It had taken the Joker a while to realize that Bruce really got turned on by his face without makeup. He still had a hard time believing it sometimes, even when Bruce whispered, ”You're so beautiful,” in his ears.   
They took a long shower/bath together in Bruce's bathroom-which included the shower sex the Joker had been hoping for.   
“Stop aggravating Alfred,” Bruce sighed as they got dressed.  
“I was hungry, Bats. Besides, why do you care?”  
Bruce sighed again. He didn't, not really. He knew that Alfred would continue to be upset, but the Joker was his guest and Alfred would have to deal with it. They could get more cookies.


	5. Eggnog

Bruce was surprised to come up on the Joker one day in his kitchen, busily mixing something with eggs and milk and cinnamon.   
“What the hell are you doing?” Bruce asked, hoping that the madman wasn't mixing up any type of explosive.  
“Making eggnog,” the Joker gestured towards two large cut crystal bowls. One had a crudely drawn skull and crossbones on it.   
“Are you poisoning it?”   
“Of course not. I am spiking part of it and then giving it to my boys. I don't usually let them drink much. They do, but I don't let them. But it's the holiday season.”  
Bruce watched in amusement as the Joker added two bottles of brandy to the creamy mixture and then poured it into two large thermoses. Bruce wondered where he had found them.   
“I'll be back later,” he told Bruce, putting the crystal bowl without the skull and crossbones into the fridge. “Tell Jeeves not to touch that batch. It's just for us.” He put the other bowl in the sink and left.  
Later that night, the Joker returned. Bruce had gone out with a model, but he returned shortly after the Joker and found his mad lover in his bedroom with two mugs of eggnog.  
“You're home early. Didn't you like this one?”  
“Boring as hell,” Bruce sighed, removing his clothes and joining his lover on the bed. “ How did your boys like the eggnog.”  
“No one got killed,” the Joker answered. “ Beyond that... there's several of them visiting the ER tonight.”  
“What happened?”  
“What always happens when you mix alcohol and insanity. More insanity. That's why I don't drink.”  
“You don't need it.”  
“You don't drink either, Bruce”.  
There was nothing he could say to that.


	6. Subconscious

Bruce was true to his word and he and the Joker went sledding two days later. They both hadn't had that much fun since they were children and they spent most of the afternoon sliding down the hill and onto the frozen lake below before trudging back up the hill to do it all over again. They finally came in and drank hot chocolate and took a long hot shower together to ease away the cold.   
Neither of them had had that much fun since childhood and they were both relaxed and happy when they drifted off to sleep.   
It didn't last.   
The Joker woke up first, feeling agitated for no particular reason. He reached over and grasped Bruce's arm to reassure himself that his lover was still there. Bruce woke up next and they both tossed and turned for more than two hours before succoumbing to the inevitable and deciding to have sex to pass the time. It was only after several rounds of sex and several hour had passed that they both felt exhausted enough to fall into an uneasy sleep.


	7. A Gift for Bruce

The Joker sat at his dressing table in his hideout, applying his makeup. He had spent the night with Bats again and Bats didn't really like his makeup. Scratch that, Bruce hated his makeup and loved his bare face. Everyone had always recoiled from his scars in horror or disgust, except for one person. Batman didn't recoil.   
As soon as they decided to stop fucking in alleys and on rooftops and moved into more comfortable digs, the first thing Bruce did was shove the Joker under a shower and wash off the greasepaint.   
He did it so quickly that the Joker didn't have time to be scared or nervous and then the way that Bruce looked at him was worth it.   
Today they were going to rob a couple of florists. There was a lot of money at floral shops during the holidays. The Joker would be sure not to kill anyone. Bats got really pissed when he did that. Not that it stopped him but the Joker made sure he was paid well if he killed. The Joker also planned to get a little gift for Brucey.  
Hours later, Bruce Wayne entered his manor and found poinsettia plants everywhere. There had to be fifty plants.  
“Your,uh, friend brought them,” Alfred informed him stiffly.


	8. Happiness

The Joker and Bruce were walking through a pine forest on Bruce's land behind Wayne Manor. Bruce was carrying the sled, but they had only sledded for a couple of times before they started to bicker and decided to head back. They were both edgy and didn't understand why. The problem was that neither of them was able to process being happy.  
Bruce hadn't been truly happy since he was a child before his parents died and who knew when the Joker had been happy. Both of them didn't realize it, but that's what made them nervous. It was also what made them plan their respective lives around their meetings. The meetings were the closest thing to happiness they had.


	9. Christmas Crackers, Joker Style

The Joker and Schiff were setting charges in an old building. It wasn't anything sinister, just someone paying the Joker to torch their building for the insurance money and the Joker taking it on because he liked to blow things up. Bats couldn't be too pissed if no one got hurt. No one would get hurt unless Schiff-who was helping him- did something stupid. Bats wouldn't be pissed about Schiff getting hurt. Bats didn't like Schiff. He was actually jealous of Schiff, but the Joker didn't know that, which was probably just as well.   
They got out of the building and a fair distance away.  
BOOM!!!!  
When they looked up, all there was left was a smoking ruin.  
“Now that's what I call a Christmas Cracker,” the Joker yelled, giggling. He had actually shaped the C4 like Christmas Crackers and it had certainly worked.


	10. The Holly and the Ivy

Bruce knew that Alfred didn't like or approve of his liaison with the Joker, but sometimes his butler's attitude really irked them. OK- Just because he and the Joker were arguing at three in the morning about a huge pile of rubble that suddenly had appeared on the roof. And, yes, Alfred did have a right to be worried because the fight had turned physical and they were happily beating the shit out of each other. Only by the time Alfred had arrived at Bruce's suite, the fight had moved into phase two, which was probably a bit more than Alfred was prepared to deal with at the time.  
“ I just want to know one thing, Master Bruce,” said Alfred, wearily mopping his forehead “What did you plan to do with all the Holly and the Ivy?


	11. Third Time's a Charm

Sledding together made them nervous and uneasy, but Bruce and the Joker were Bruce and the Joker and they were masochists to the extreme. Therefore, they were determined to continue sledding together, mainly to prove to themselves that it really wasn't freaking them out. They were laughing in the face of the idea that it was possible to be too happy. This time they managed a half hour before deciding to return to the house. The Joker had brought a ring of sleigh bells and he had attached them to the sled. They rang even as they carried the sled back to Bruce's warm house and Bruce leaned over and kissed the Joker's freckled nose as they set the sled down.


	12. Coping

Alfred had hot chocolate waiting when Bruce and the Joker came back from their sledding expedition. Alfred wished that the Joker would just go away, but it didn't look like the fiend was leaving anytime soon. Alfred sighed. He absolutely refused to serve the Joker but he did make sure there was enough hot chocolate in the pot for two or else Bruce would complain. They came in from the cold, Bruce's arm around the thinner shoulders of his companion. They were both laughing about something as they came in the doors. The Joker with his high pitched cackle and Bruce's quieter chuckle, his face lit up with pleasure and good humor as he regarded the insane clown.   
Alfred sighed as he set the chocolate pot down.


	13. Christmas Wishes

When he was a boy, Bruce had written a letter to Santa every year faithfully.   
Then his parents were killed.  
Bruce stopped believing in Santa. He couldn't give Bruce what he really wanted so why bother pretending to believe he exists.  
But now...Bruce woke up and looked at the man sleeping with his head on Bruce's chest. The Joker was usually awake while Bruce slept, but the fiend had finally fallen asleep. He looked much more peaceful sleeping, as if incapable of causing the chaos he did while awake. Bruce wrapped his arms around the Joker more firmly and kissed the top of his head before falling back asleep.


	14. A Falling Star

Bruce and the Joker were ensconced on his chaise on his private balcony. Bruce had tinted glass installed around it and no one could see him if he chose to sit out there. So, here were he and the Joker in 20 degree weather, sitting on the balcony wrapped in an electric blanket with two space heaters around them. It was very late and Gotham was quiet-well, as quiet as Gotham got.   
“I see a falling star,” remarked Bruce, shivering as he adjusted the blanket.  
“You're supposed to make a wish,” The Joker commented, his head on Bruce's shoulder.  
Bruce shrugged. He had everything he wanted right here.


	15. Blessed in Silver and Gold

When Bruce was a boy, Thomas Wayne took him for a walk. They walked the entire length and breadth of the Wayne estate.  
“You have and will continue to have more money than you know what to do with,” Thomas told his son.”You have been blessed with silver and gold. “  
Later, Bruce was to remember these words during the darkest part of his journey for knowledge, when he was in that hell of a Chinese prison.   
He remembered it once he returned to Gotham and became Batman.   
“Blessed in silver and gold,” he told himself as he was forced to take another bubble headed model to another charity event.  
“Blessed in silver and gold,” he thought as he ordered a custom made card holder for a certain green haired fiend he was madly in love with, although he would never admit it or say it out loud.  
“Blessed in silver and gold,” he smiled at the way the Joker looked at him after receiving his present.


	16. The Wassail Punch

Alfred was on edge because the Joker was hovering around his kitchen, waiting for him to make the Wassail punch. Of course, either in the city or out at the Manor, people weren't likely to come caroling, but Alfred liked to make the punch because Thomas Wayne had enjoyed it and Alfred liked to remember him while making it.   
The Joker spoiled all of that.   
The fucking clown really liked the punch.  
This was the third Christmas in a row that Alfred had to endure this. He had long since given up hope that the Joker and Bruce would fall out, fall apart or otherwise stop shagging each other. The pair stuck like glue.   
The first time was an accident. Alfred had made the punch and gone off-sent by Bruce who was planning to sneak a certain green haired mass murderer into the Penthouse in Alfred's absence. Bruce had done so, the fiend had wandered into the kitchen for something to drink and finished the bowl. Alfred had mentioned it to Bruce as Bruce had never much cared for the Wassail punch, but Bruce claimed that he drank it and Alfred believed.   
By the next Christmas, Bruce was much more open about who he was fucking.   
Alfred had to endure the clown wandering around the penthouse, wearing an obnoxious velvet green smoking jacket that was a gift from Bruce. Bruce had also made the clown wash off his makeup. Bruce was caught between staring at the Joker with lust in his eyes and glaring at Alfred if he so much as glanced in the Joker's direction. Alfred wasn't familiar enough with their dynamic at that time to realize that they were both extremely jealous and extremely protective of each other.   
So here he was with the Joker underfoot, waiting impatiently for the Wassail punch to be finished. This time he was wearing something that looked like silk lounging pajamas, in green and purple. Another horrid present from Bruce.


	17. The Joker's treat

The Joker liked to crunch on Candy Canes. Crinkle, Crinkle. That was him unwrapping the candy.  
Slurp,Slurp,Slurp...That was the Joker sucking on the hook of the Candy Cane and Bruce was forcibly reminded of exactly how phallic a Candy Cane was in the first place. Crunch, Crunch... This was the Joker biting down on the Candy Cane, his venomous tongue swiping out at the scar on his lower lip after every bite. The Joker was on his third Candy Cane and Bruce thought that his head would explode. His pants were so tight that he wasn't sure how he would get out of them  
Crunch..  
“That's quite enough,” Bruce barked, grabbing the box of Candy Canes and flinging it to the floor.  
“Come here,” he ordered, his eyes dark with lust.  
The Joker did as he was told, smirking at Bruce as he crawled up the sofa towards him.   
Bruce reached for his lover and his Isis Series Datapad, manufactured by Wayne Enterprises and being personally tested by the chief of research and development crashed to the floor as well.


	18. Martha Wayne's Christmas Traditions

One of Bruce's fondest and most enduring memories was the Christmas incense that his mother would make. He remembered going to dusty herb shops and health food stores to get the various ingredients needed. The proprietors of such places not caring how much money Martha Wayne had, tossing Bruce a piece of sesame candy. They would bring the ingredients home and mix them together. Bruce could still see his mother's slender hands as she mixed the ingredients together.   
Martha usually used two recipes, one for incense and one for potpourri. The recipe was the same for each: Frankincense, Myrrh and Rose petals, along with cinnamon and allspice. The incense would be burned on charcoal around the Manor for the holidays and the potpourri placed in small dishes wrapped with golden tulle and given to friends and acquaintances.


	19. Music Box and Memories

Rachel Dawes had owned a music box collection which she had began in childhood. Bruce himself had given her several of them as presents when they were teenagers. When she died, she left all of them to her mother with the exception of two, which were bequeathed to Alfred.   
One was a lovely Christmas scene-from Dickens' A Christmas Carol, showing Scrooge, Crachit and Tiny Tim under a streetlamp dancing. It played the Coventry Carol which Alfred thought was an odd choice for a music box, but Rachel had loved it. Bruce had not given her this one, Alfred had. For her sixteenth birthday.   
Bruce appeared in the doorway of Alfred's room. Alfred loved the new manor, but Bruce didn't like it.   
“I'm going to be in my rooms,” he told Alfred. “Do you need me for anything before I go?”  
“No,” said Alfred, setting the music box down. “It's Rachel's music box that I gave her for her sixteenth birthday.”  
Bruce nodded and then silently left the room.   
Alfred was still for a long time. Even now, three years later, he had a very hard time accepting who was waiting for Bruce in his rooms. Who liked the new Manor because ingress and egress were much easier for him than a Penthouse at the top of a 30 story building.


	20. Christmas Eve

Lucius Fox was often amused at Bruce during the Holidays. He hired two extra assistants to help with the Christmas shopping. He sent checks to charities and made donations and appeared on TV. It was fantastic publicity for Wayne Enterprises.   
Bruce hated every minute of it. He hated the parties, the models, the phony Christmas cheer. He was forcibly reminded of the calm, peaceful Christmases that he spent with his parents as a child. After they died, Christmas just didn't have the same flavor. Alfred tried, but he couldn't make up for what was lost.   
On Christmas eve, Bruce hit the wall. He sent his regrets to the exclusive party he was supposed to attend and retired to his room with a certain green haired maniac. His butler was conveniently out of the house on a date with his CEO.


	21. Smoke Break

The Joker woke up. It was slightly cold in Bruce's room because they were both fresh air fiends and even in December, they often left the balcony door cracked and huddled under extra quilts. The Joker reached for his purple robe and headed for the door. He wanted a cigarette-Bruce forbade him from smoking in the manor so he could only sneak when Bruce was asleep.   
It was quiet as the Joker headed to the balcony, noting the patterns of frost on the windows and balcony door. He lit up and smoked his cigarette in peace. He was about to toss the butt when he felt his lover's strong arms around his waist.  
“Don't you dare,” Bruce murmured in his ear, handing him an ashtray.  
The Joker thought that Bruce would be pissed that he was smoking but by the way Bruce was nuzzling his neck, he didn't seem mad.


	22. Night's End

Bruce let himself into the penthouse after what had to be the worse holiday party he had ever attended. He reached up to swipe off the deer antlers that his silly date had put on him, but missed. He wasn't drunk, but his silly date had lit up a cigar sized spliff and the potent smoke had filled his small sports car pretty quickly before he could reach over and throw it out the window. It hadn't helped that his car had a manual transmission and he had needed all his attention on the road when she lit up-which was probably why she did it.   
He was slightly dizzy as he made his way to his bedroom. When he got there what he saw brought him up short. The Joker was laying on his bed, totally nude with the exception of a big red bow slung around his hips-the bow keeping him from being totally exposed. There was also a Santa hat on his head.   
Bruce joined his lover on the bed, pulling him eagerly into his arms and allowing him to remove Bruce's tux. Their lips met and Bruce kissed his lover hungrily before breaking the kiss and whispering,  
“ My date lit a joint in the car and I think I'm stoned.” The Joker giggled madly at this and they kissed again, their nude bodies melding together.


	23. Martha Wayne's Christmas Traditions II

Alfred set out bowls of Martha Wayne's Christmas Potpourri. It was her own special recipe and it was just by chance that Alfred had found it tucked away with some things. He had thought that it was burned with the old manor. The recipe called for a cup of frankincense and a cup of myrrh. Three cups of roses and ¾ cup allspice and cinnamon, each. Martha had always put it in bowls with gold tulle, but the notation said that gold colored beads could be added, too. The meaning was to have the gifts of the three wise men, the red roses of martyrdom and spices from the east.

Alfred mixed it and put a bowl on the heat vent in every room. The scent was faint, but there. Bruce came in from the office to change for a party and remarked, “ It's my mom's potpourri.”

“Yes,” Alfred replied. “ I found the recipe.”


End file.
